king ." But continually increasing numbers were attracted to the shores of America , actuated by motives widely different from those of the first Pilgrims . Though the primitive faith and purity exerted a widespread and moulding power , yet its influence became less and less as the numbers increased of those who sought only worldly advantage .
The regulation adopted by the early colonists , of permitting only members of the church to vote or to hold office in the civil government , led to most pernicious results . This measure had been accepted as a means of preserving the purity of the state , but it resulted in the corruption of the church . A profession of religion being the condition of suffrage and officeholding , many , actuated solely by motives of worldly policy , united with the church without a change of heart . Thus the churches came to consist , to a considerable extent , of unconverted persons ; and even in the ministry were those who not only held errors of doctrine , but who were ignorant of the renewing power of the Holy Spirit . Thus again was demonstrated the evil results , so often witnessed in the history of the church from the days of Constantine to the present , of attempting to build up the church by the aid of the state , of appealing to the secular power in support of the gospel of Him who declared : " My kingdom is not of this world ." John 18:36 . The union of the church with the state , be the degree never so slight , while it may appear to bring the world nearer to the church , does in reality but bring the church nearer to the world .
The great principle so nobly advocated by Robinson and Roger Williams , that truth is progressive , that Christians should stand ready to accept all the light which may shine from God ' s holy word , was lost sight of by their descendants . The Protestant churches of America , --and those of Europe as well , --so highly favoured in receiving the blessings of the Reformation , failed to press forward in the path of reform . Though a few faithful men arose , from time to time , to proclaim new truth and expose long-cherished error , the majority , like the Jews in Christ ' s day or the papists in the time of Luther , were content to believe as their fathers had believed and to live as they had lived . Therefore religion again degenerated into formalism ; and errors and superstitions which would have been cast aside had the church continued to walk in the light of God ' s word , were retained and cherished . Thus the spirit inspired by the Reformation gradually died out , until there was almost as great need of reform in the Protestant churches as in the Roman Church in the time of Luther . There was the same worldliness and spiritual stupor , a similar reverence for the opinions of men , and substitution of human theories for the teachings of God ' s word .
The wide circulation of the Bible in the early part of the nineteenth century , and the great light thus shed upon the world , was not followed by a corresponding advance in knowledge of revealed truth , or in experimental religion . Satan could not , as in former ages , keep God ' s word from the people ; it had been placed within the reach of all ; but in order still to accomplish his object , he led many to value it but lightly . Men neglected to search the Scriptures , and thus they continued to accept false interpretations , and to cherish doctrines which had no foundation in the Bible .
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